Basic documentary tips with the DVX

A

Asteele

Member
I am making my first documentary. I have been hired by a medical center to make a 8-10 minute video about their nursing staff. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice for me.

What scene file settings to use? Should I film 24p or 60i?
Also, what type of mic should I use to get the best sound quality for interviews?

Any other pointers you may have would be great!
 
Are you shooting interviews or more "action on the job" in the normal work setting?

Either way, I would try to get in that area where you will be shooting and get some test footage.

What you end up using for audio will depend on the conditions you will be shooting in also. Interviews/talking heads or moving action?
 
I will be shooting interviews and inserting broll footage of the hospital staff. Most of the interviews will be done in an office or private room. What would you recommend I shoot in? 24p, 30p, or 60i? Im afraid 24/30p would look weird for these types of interviews.
 
do what you think will look the best.
I love 24p, especially for interviews but nobody can dictate the look of your vision.
thats just a you thing.
 
24p, no doubt (it's a subjective choice, but so is the choice between the Godfather and Police Academy iV). Do lots of manual white balances for your b-roll, of course. A typical hospital will have many competing light sources (big windows, industrial fluorescents, desk lamps with tungsten bulbs, lots of different screens emitting different casts....)

Find the quietest room to interview first and foremost (not an easy task in a hospital). Secondly, find one with some carpet or soft surfaces, if possible. Lastly, find one where you can control the light (no or few windows). Use an omni lav or a hypercardioid shotgun for interview if possible. Good luck!
 
Asteele said:
I will be shooting interviews and inserting broll footage of the hospital staff. Most of the interviews will be done in an office or private room. What would you recommend I shoot in? 24p, 30p, or 60i? Im afraid 24/30p would look weird for these types of interviews.
Click to expand...

I'g go for 60i, it's really weird at this board because the film guys want 24p, don't do it 60i will be what they want to see for a finished product..
 
the format depends on the clients needs. is it going to be broadcast then no 24p. is it going to be sent around on dvd ? then 24p could be an option....
 
timbook2 said:
the format depends on the clients needs. is it going to be broadcast then no 24p. is it going to be sent around on dvd ? then 24p could be an option....
Click to expand...
Why would broadcast be a problem? I usually notice when something wasn't shot progressively on television (news and sports being the exception). 24p presents exactly zero problems for broadcast.
 
I have an interlaced crappy crt that I watch most of my television on. That's why Panasonic's 24p (not 24pa) was invented - to "cheat" a progressive frame rate in an interlaced format. My TV sucks and 24p still looks dramatically and obviously different than 60i, of course.
 
I'm just saying 60i has the "Discovery Health Channel" look, or "Video Look" that would be best for a Medical Center in my opinion. Reality TV look is what I think would be best for his project.
 
Last edited:
24p still looks dramatically and obviously different than 60i
Click to expand...
All other things being equal, does 24p look better on a CRT TV? Absolutely not.

Reality TV look is what I think would be best for his project.
Click to expand...
Hmmm, I'm pretty sure that 60i is the norm for TV programming. That includes reality TV.
 
seunosewa said:
All other things being equal, does 24p look better on a CRT TV? Absolutely not.
Click to expand...

If you're saying that 60i looks better on a CRT than does 24p, you're entitled to your opinion, though the type of television makes much less difference with respect to frame rates (at least with respect to the dramatic differences between 60i vs. 24p). A broadcast produced at 60 fields per second is going to look dramatically different than one produced at 24 frames per second ("cheated" or otherwise) whether viewed on a $50 off-brand 15" interlaced CRT or a $20,000 60" Vidikron progressive plasma. Will the Vidikron look better? Uh, hell yes, by several light years. Will the obvious frame rate difference be VERY, VERY noticeable to those with able sight on either machine - yes.
 
24p and 60i look identical on a CRT TV in the absence of motion. In the presence of motion, 60i looks smooth while 24p stutters. That's the only difference on an interlaced CRT TV. (On a progressive TV, properly shot 24p might look better because of the absence of deinterlacing artifacts.)
 
If 24p stutters it has much less to do with interlacing (only on occasional snippets of transitions & such). The bigger problem, of course, is when you pan, tilt, or otherwise move the camera too fast (or the motion caught on camera moves too fast). This, of course, will ALSO stutter on a progressive television (or a film projector or any other delivery device).

24p, when shot and planned properly, will only stutter negligibly more (and only in very specific instances) than on progressive screens.

From wikipedia:

"24p video has more trouble with high motion than other, higher frame rates, sometimes showing a "strobe" or "choppy" motion, just like 24 frame/s film will if shot as if it's video, without careful panning, zooming, and slower camera motion. It is therefore not well-suited for programming requiring spontaneous action or "reality" camerawork. [I disagree - it's an aesthetic choice that the vast majority of award-winning doc makers have chosen] 24p can also hurt the credibility of newscasts by making news footage look too much like staged movie clips – though many newscasts do incorporate 24p footage."

It should also be noted that while the strobe of 24p is in many ways considered a disadvantage, it's also part of the "film look." 24 frame/s film strobes in exactly the same way."
 
For audio recording for interviews, I usually supply two mic sources for single person on-camera.

Channel ONE:
I use an omni-directional lavalier like the Tram TR-50 or the Countrymen B-6.

Channel TWO:
I mount a shotgun on a boompole (or simply clamped to a C-stand arm) just out of frame, pointing at the subjects throat. I make sure the mic leads them a bit so it still sounds good if they lean forward a bit. Better: a hypercardiod mic, which will have a little wider pickup pattern and sound better that close. I do a lot of reality TV Mixing and we typically don't have a lot of time to change mics, so my shotgun (longer than hypercardiods) used for outdoor/indoor documentary booming still sounds great.
 
All I'm saying is that 24p and 60i have different looks & yes you can tell. Different frame rate & different shutter speed both contribute to that. 24p and 60i have different shutter speeds.

I love 24p for film looking projects like shorts and our little movies we make, I also like the 60i look better for his project.

Test it out.

Try 1080 60i, video cam mode, detail level +4, V detail level +4, detail coring -2, chroma level +1, gamma B. Press, Knee high, Matrix Cine-Like

It looks stunning on an 1080i HD TV for a reality / discovery channel health look...

Your clients eyes will pop! Providing it is Lit decent...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top